Monday, 5 January 2009

An Arnhem style WW2 Airborne landing by the Allies. Played on Friday at Matt's using the Flames of War rules. Phil, Jock and myself turned up with Phil playing the defending Germans. The Allied forces consisted of British and American Paratroopers, as well as Glider-borne artillery and motorised scouts. The airborne landing had to be split into two waves and the decision was made for the first to go in before dawn despite the risk of losing troops in the drop. Since there was no formal rules for drops in the books that we had, the old\traditional 'paper chits dropped from height' rule was used.

A view of the combat zone. Both bridges need to be taken and held till reinforcements (hopefully) turn up at the near edge.

Drop ZoneThe first choice of drop zone, between the bridges but near trees and a built up area, turned out to be a bad one as the landing was opposed by two groups of Jerries, including a Luftwaffe ground unit holed up in the buildings near the first bridge. The paras did a limited amount of damage before being removed; An enemy Forward Observer being a particular nuisance by calling fire down on them.

The troop from the second drop zone were more successful and attacked and seized a position near the second bridge, despite coming under intense fire from across the river they managed to dig in.

Glider LandingsA fairly conservative and safe choice for landing zones for the Gliders. Given that the vast majority of this force was mechanised being dropped this far from the action was not thought to be a problem. The landings were semi-successful but we did manage to lose the only 17pdr gun so there was the potential for trouble if enemy tanks did turn up.

Second WaveFour turns after the first the second wave of British paratroopers arrive and land in relative safety between the two bridges unopposed by the defenders.

American LandingA risk was taken with these and they dropped next to the town itself. Jocks final idea before he had to scoot. It turned out to be a good one despite a Mechanised Scout unit, equipped with a number of Pumas, turning up nearby a turn later.

Bunker AssaultDespite have a load of artillery pointed at it it seems that the only way to take such a position in the rules is to assault it with infantry. Used some mortars to put smoke onto it to restrict its range of fire. For indirect artillery you need to make a targeting roll each turn even if targeting the same position as well as rolling for effect; which is something I found strange.

Fight in TownThe Bazooka equipped Americans deal with the Pumas and advanced into town. They seize control of one of the suburbs, and enter into a prolonged exchange with the Germans across the square who were now reinforce with a Jagdpanzer.

Bunker BustedThe Brits finally took out the bunker holding up the forces at the first bridge. A rear assault did the trick. With that out of the way they quickly advanced into close combat with the enemy in the buildings either side of the road and seized control of the first bridge.

Tank AttackThe German Tanks finally turn up retreating from the collapsed front line. They initially advance towards the first bridge and cause panic amongst the light artillery who mount up and move away. A few turns later the pursuing British armour arrive and the Panzers decide to turn and face them; much to the relief of the Paras who only have P.I.A.T.s to stop them. The game was winding down at this point so we decided to try out the Aerial Ground attack rules and sent in a Typhoon which successfully took out a panzer with its rockets.¶